Sales Leadership for Startups: Steps to the Salesperson Interview Process

As a sales leader at an early stage tech company, it is crucial to avoid mistakes in all aspects of growing your sales team. One of the biggest challenges is hiring the right sales reps to join your team. In his post, Kevin Gaither shares his experience of improving his hiring success rate to over 80% with five simple steps.

The first step is to define the characteristics of what a great hire looks like in writing. This will help you to have a clear understanding of what you are looking for in a candidate.

The second step is to develop a non-negotiable interview template for each interviewer to use. This ensures that all candidates are evaluated consistently and fairly.

The third step is to develop a quick but thorough multi-step interview process to assess all of your defined characteristics. This process should take less than two weeks to complete.

The fourth step is to evaluate your hires six months later and ask, "knowing what I know now, would I hire this person again?" This step helps to ensure that you are continuously improving your hiring process.

The fifth and final step is to optimize your hiring process accordingly. This means that you should measure your results and make changes to your process as needed. By following these five steps, you can improve your hiring success rates and build a strong sales team.

Effective sales leadership requires continuous improvement and learning from mistakes. Kevin Gaither's post provides valuable insights into how to hire the right sales reps for your team. By defining your ideal candidate, developing a consistent interview process, and continuously evaluating and optimizing your hiring process, you can build a successful sales team that drives sales success.

Download the free Sales Interview Questions template here for your plug-and-play template to increase your chances of making a great sales hire.